End of week thoughts
Hi Jóvenes,
Greetings from our UH library. These tests are becoming a burden on Friday nights.
I wanted to take some time and thank all those who participated in this week's events. There were quite a lot, but we have been blessed with the committment of several Jóvens who never fail to show up.
We had a very wet Monday at the Halloween Fest and from then we moved Tuesday at San Jacinto college where we presented with Representative Rick Noriega- that was a good night! Thursday we had an officer's meeting and came to more concrete terms as far as when the march will be taking place- we are looking at February 18th, so mark it down. Then some of us headed to Eastwood Academy after the meeting- which also went well, we got so much more footage for our documentary.
It was incredible-- well, let me rephrase that... i was no longer surprised to hear how many college reps that come to present to these high schools of predominantly Latino students where many parents who also come and do not speak English.... and we still have these reps who many times speak Spanish and choose not to do so. This baffles me! The issue that no longer surprises me however is how many of these college reps do not know anything about House Bill 1403 or the DREAM Act.
What kind of information would they give to our students and parents who need to know how to enroll in college if many of them are in our situation? I have to mention however, that some reps did know their stuff, so props to them.
After the Eastwood presentation some of us hung out and then headed to the radio station. Thanks to Donajih, Tatiana, Genesis, and Sandra who were there to speak so amazingly and eloquently to the callers who had questions. I am sure that you guys heard us, so tell us what you thought of it. Vampiro was so great in giving us that space to talk and spread this information that so badly needs to be heard. Guys, the phones were going crazy, we have received so many calls throughout the day of people who wish to be involved, had comments, or more personal case questions. We are no experts on this, but i feel that we have done a great job.
It has been a very active and long week. We got through it, but wouldn't you love to be a part of it? It really is empowering to see the eyes of a parent or high school student who suddenly finds out that he or she can in fact go to college. Even better when they know that there is a light which gives us hope that our studies won't in fact be taken for granted.
I am out for this weekend. Post comments guys, this is your forum so to speak to express your concerns or suggestions, whatever is on your mind.
I leave however thanking once again all those who participated, posted something on their blogs about us, emailed, txt messaged, or called us to find out what was going on, or to give us some moral support.
Remember that the last thing that dies is hope!
-JRC
posted by JIFM-UH at 4:20 PM
3 Comments:
Im going out tonight, im already "hapy" (if you know what im talking about)
I had a great week.
Unfortunately it time to take it easy!!!
I say we host the maximum 3 events per week including meetings.
I wanted to asked the MEMBERS what yall thought about joinning the Hispanic Students Association umbrella group for the latino organizations. There are several benifists from being part of the umbrealla group.
Awareness
Networking
support
along with many other things...
We turn in an application and wait to see if we are accepted.
Along with that, I want to encourage school spirit by attending the week long Homecoming festivities.
With the media proposal maybe we can get in other media outlets to help us put our organization out there.
okay gotta go.......
10:28 PM
Hey.. this is what happened to me today. o well for the last couple of months... it still needs revisions... i want to see if i could get it to the daily cougar... well see how bad they are going to get it. my dad is really "indignado" and is going to talk to oir lawyers. Hopefully we could set precesent here. This is social revolution in the making..
Here it goes------
I always defended the idea that discrimination is something that you portrayed. I thought that by presenting an image of a strong minded person you could play off the preset rules of society. It is crushing me know to find that no matter what my achievements are I would always be an immigrant (and by this I mean that it has a prejudice connotation). For the last three months I have been to obtain a student loan in order to pay for my tuition and expenses at the University of Houston.
It seemed from the beginning that the process was going well and I was pre-approved as well as my cosigner, my mom. After a month of waiting for the money to come in, I got tired of constantly calling the bank and getting a negative response. It seemed that the financial aid department had not accepted the loan due to my immigrant status.
I am currently in process of residency as is my mom and the rest of my family. We came to the United States six years ago in search for a better future and so far everything seemed in order until I came across the people at Wells Fargo. Both of my parents are teachers for the Houston ISD and thru the district they are getting the residency. Just this June we received a notification that out process was approved and we were ready to move to the next level: a permanent residency. This is something that I had waited for since I decided to join the US ARMY and the only impediment was the residency. I was finally going to be able to carry on with my dream.
After talking to the financial advisors at the University, we realized that the bank was giving different versions of the story to both parties. For one, I was informed that the university needed my greencard to be able to process; and the University was informed that I was not approved for the same reason. I talked to the branch manager at my local bank and he took over the process. Meanwhile I was totally mistreated as well as the manager from the branch. We explained the situation repeatedly to the department dealing with student loans and they asked for information which we did in a timely matter. We send the same documents over 3 times and at last it was apparently understood my immigration status. In order to continue with the process I was then advice to change my graduation date since the I-94 of my cosigner would expire before graduation date. In this point of my process the I-94 (which is given to those who hold visas), is null as I am considered in process of immigration. I continued calling until I got a response earlier on today saying that I had to either show my greencard or my student visa in order to be considered for the loan.
After all the frustration that had accumulated for the past month I asked for an explanation. This has been the third time that the bank changes stories on my when there is only one month left for the semester to end. the supervisor at wellsfargo told me that i had to fix my immigration status with the university because she HAD ALREADY REPORTED THAT MY I-94 WAS EXPIRED and that i had to fix my status at school as well.
I have jet to make any payments and will not be able unless I find some other loaner. Time is running and I am at risk of loosing the efforts made at school. There is no reasonable answer from the bank which has been playing me thru all this process. I was then treated by the representatives of the bank as if I was a piece of garbage. In all my life I had never encounter such treatment but I guessed it was necessary for me to realize what so many people go thru thanks to the ignorance of many who believed they are better because they hold a US passport. What is left for me to do is to raise the issue because I know that they are many like me who will not speak out for fear. All I have to fear is failure and I would definitely not give up under any obstacle. As my friend Julita always repeats, if you don’t fight for your dream nobody else will, and this is a fight that I will continue until we are all treated as human beings.
--- one more thing.. I forgot to mention that poor **** did not knot that I am covered by the law in more that one way..... it would not be inpune.. jajaja... oh well that all for nowe.. i need feedbakk before i send it everywhere.... please critisize it.. the army stuff is written there for drama purposes as well as to get some credibitity.. its all about politics guys....
Tati
12:27 AM
Donaji,
yes long week... my position still remains the same as far as the Hispanic Student Association, i just don't see any real impact happening if we unite; however, if the group decides that this may be for the benefit, then i will give in to the collective decision-this is a democracy after all...
Tati,
i sent the revised draft to your email already.. yes, it is an absolute indignation that the system still functions like this.
Best of luck on this, we'll keep working on the draft as needed.
1:46 AM
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